Case Study 3 (A Small City)

We will verify the food desert (FD) issues in a small city. This city is a satellite city in Tokyo and has two distinct districts: a residential district and an agricultural district. In addition, we assessed the mobile selling vehicle service operating in the city. We found that shopping destination blank areas are largely located in the eastern agricultural areas of this city. However, high malnutrition risk old people live not only in these poor food access agricultural areas but also in the city centres which maintains good food access. Our surveys suggest that there are two main living environmental factors which exacerbate old residents’ healthy eating habits: local level social capital and food access. The mobile selling vehicle supports disadvantaged old residents’ daily lives. For some old residents, this service is their lifeline. However, the vehicle stops do not fully cover high malnutrition risk elderly people’s residential areas. The usage of the mobile selling vehicle is high not only in the areas where there are many old people with difficulty in going out on foot (low food access areas), but also in the areas where there are many elderly who suffer from isolation and poverty (poverty areas and low social capital areas). We should consider shopping support service again from the viewpoint of FD issues and improve this problem.